Queensland Games Festival 2025
A small selection of the games I got to experience
This year’s Queensland Games Festival was held at the stunning Powerhouse in Brisbane on Saturday 14th June and showcased some of the most exciting indie games to come out of the sunshine state!
As well as the showcase, which wasn’t just video games but board and card games too, there was also some free workshops, including a creative workshop with Gameloft and the extremely popular “Mini Mobile Game Development: From Idea to App” workshop which filled up super quickly (I found it interesting that this had an age range of 11-17. What about the adults who wanted to learn about it?)
Unfortunately, on the day of the festival, I was still recovering from sickness and it was my first time leaving the house in a week so I didn’t get as immersed as I wanted to, but I still got to chat with some lovely, inspiring developers and play their cool games!
Memento | Fat Alien Cat & Nomo Studio
What struck me about Momento is that it isn’t your usual cosy, room-decorating game by any means. This game plays out across a lifetime and the choices you make, such as the items you decide to keep with you, impact the story and even the player’s career as they move into adulthood. I loved this idea and the version I played was beautiful and has so much potential. I can’t wait to see how they progress with development.
Follow for more on Steam
Bumper Bout | Rockalot
Bumper Bout is a frantic, highly competitive, extremely fun twist on the classic arcade pinball game! I played against my partner for a few minutes and thoroughly enjoyed not just trying to keep all my balls in the game, but flicking more over to him to try to keep afloat. Absolute chaos!
Slated for an October 2025 release, you can keep updated on development here.
Deliverium | Sagestone Games
I was immediately drawn to the pixel art style of this sandbox adventure game by Sagestone Games. Up to 4 players can explore, build, farm, craft and even battle their way across this open world while restoring stability to the land. I was impressed by the work that’s gone into this game already and look forward to seeing how they build on things in further development.
The demo is available here.
Dungeon Pizza | Growing Games
Dungeon Pizza was probably my favourite game of the day at the games fest! It’s a point and click cooking game where you play as a pizza chef whipping up creations for adventurers that stop in at your pizzeria. The demo ran really well and I was grateful for the dev’s assistance on showing me the ropes. It’s so early in development that (one of) the devs I spoke to wasn’t sure what the end game will end up being but I can tell the team have had a great time making it!
I signed up to their newsletter and look forward to seeing how it goes!
Key Fairy | Owl Machine
I didn’t get a chance to play this one at the festival - mostly because my energy levels were starting to wane and it was time for me to call it a day. But I downloaded the demo when I got home and while I initially thought it might not be a game for me, I enjoyed it!
Key Fairy is a beautifully eerie, hand drawn, pacifist bullet-hell game where the player weaves through the folkloric world to collect their shattered stars while encountering strange creatures and long forgotten magic along the way. I believe it won the “People’s Choice” award at the festival which is absolutely deserved!
You can download the demo on Steam
Games I didn’t Get To Play but Was Intrigued By
Isopod | Sbug Games
Due for release in October 2025, Isopod is a spin-off of the game Webbed where you play as a little pill-bug rolling its way through the Australian bush.
Follow their Steam page for updates.
Lone Pine | Bang Bang Bang Interactive
Lone Pine is an intriguing, 2D adventure game where you play as “Lizzie” who has come to Lone Pine to find and take photographs of the mysterious cryptids that might be lurking there…
Follow their Steam page for updates.
Cast N Chill | Wombat Brawler
Cast N Chill is a cosy fishing game that is already out and on sale on Steam if you’re into it! The pixel art is gorgeous and it looks like a lovely, relaxing game.
And there we have it! A great first QLD Games Fest for me! Although I wish I’d had a chance to check out the board and card games as well. Hopefully next time!
Have any of these indie games piqued your interest? I’d love to know!
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Oh my, so many games that would be exactly my cup of tea! Momento and Cast N Chill especially. Thanks for the reporting Laura, it's so exciting to read on games in development!
Omg how fun! I adored this writeup. And Momento sounds right up my alley 😱